page_title: Little Cumbrae Castle
section_title: Cromwell and King Charles II
hierarchical_section_title: Little Cumbrae Castle / History / Cromwell and King Charles II
caption_attribution_description: English: Little Cumbrae and the its castle ruins, North Ayrshire, Scotland
context_page_description: Little Cumbrae Castle sits on Allimturrail or Castle Island, a small tidal island, situated off the east coast of Little Cumbrae, in the Firth of Clyde. It is designated as a scheduled monument.
context_section_description: In Cromwell's time the then Earl of Eglinton dispatched his wife with a garrison of forty men at arms to this fortlet castle for her safe keeping; the defences were strengthened at this juncture. The Earl was taken prisoner after fighting against Cromwell at the Battle of Worcester (3 September 1651) and Lady Montgomerie was advised by the Marquis of Argyll to either offer the castle to the authorities or have it demolished once the munitions and cannons had been safely removed. Steele has it that the Earl himself took refuge at the castle when Cromwell's troops threatened Ardrossan Castle.
  Principal Baillie of Glasgow fled here when Cromwell approached the city, leaving his family and belongings behind and lodging with Lady Montgomerie.
  Archibald Hamilton was a friend and correspondent of Oliver Cromwell and was imprisoned in the dungeon at Little Cumbrae castle by the 6th Earl of Eglinton (died 1661) before being taken to Stirling where he was hanged.
  The old Statistical Account indicates that this fortlet was taken by surprise and destroyed by Cromwellian forces, possibly in revenge for the role the castle played in the fate of Archibald Hamilton; after this it does not appear to have been restored or tenanted.
  The inaccessibility of Little Cumbrae made it the principal stronghold of the Earl of Eglinton as Ardrossan Castle was vulnerable to artillery. In 1651 Charles II permitted: It is our pleasure the number of fortie men which the Lord Montgomerie hath raised and doeth maintaine in at the Isle of Comrie, may be allowed to him in this new levie for so many out of his owne or his fathers proper lands.
  In 1609 Robert Hunter was the subject of a complaint to the Privy Council made by the Captain of Dumbarton Castle for going to Little Cumbrae and taking all of the hawks away.
  The name Cumbrae may derive from the Cymri or Kymry meaning 'fellow countrymen' or from Kil Maura meaning 'cell or church of a female saint'.
caption: Little Cumbrae Castle and island from Millport.
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